


the city lights shine (for the two of us)

by AccioInvisibilityCloak



Series: Femslash February 2019 Ficlets [3]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: (because the Thenardiers SUCK), Angst, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Fluff, Prompt: City Lights, mentions of abuse, modern au i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 10:43:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17806511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AccioInvisibilityCloak/pseuds/AccioInvisibilityCloak
Summary: Looking out at the Parisian skyline with Cosette at her side, Éponine can't believe how lucky she is to have her girlfriend. So why is it so hard for her to accept that it's real?





	the city lights shine (for the two of us)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted on tumblr by the awesome @echojar. Thanks, friend! (Also my 'Ponine is very lesbian and my Cosette is very bi and they are very much in love.)

*******

       Éponine stares out at the city lights, her head on Cosette’s shoulder.

She used to despair at the light pollution that blots out the stars with an orange haze, taking away her best means of wishing. Wishing to protect Azelma and Gavroche; wishing for freedom from her awful parents; wishing for Cosette to be well and happy, somewhere out in the Paris night, in spite of it all.

Éponine is beyond grateful to have Cosette by her side once more. There was a time she thought they’d never see one another again. She squeezes Cosette’s soft hand affectionately, and Cosette smiles and squeezes back. It puts the starlight back into Éponine’s heart again.

“What are you thinking about?” Cosette asks suddenly.

       There are any number of things Éponine could say. It could be the way Cosette’s eyes shone with mischievous light this morning at the gate of her house, their regular meeting place, as she said _“Ponine. Let’s go out tonight.”_ It could be the perfect quiet of the Paris Gardens at night, the most glorious place for two girls to lie among the flowered hedgerows, cuddling and talking and more than talking, the flaky sweet flavors of the local patisserie and coffee shop still on their lips from earlier. It could be the long and laughing walk back to the Fauchelevents’ home, the way Éponine was so alight with happiness, she couldn’t even feel the cold night air against her skin.

Or it could just be the thrill of holding hands with the girl she loves, gazing at the lights of Paris at midnight, on a balcony right out of Shakespeare.

         “I’m thinking… I can’t believe how lucky I am,” Éponine admits, allowing her long, tangled dark hair to fall around her face, hiding her blush.

“What do you mean?” Cosette says, and she _doesn’t know_. Éponine can’t believe Cosette really doesn’t know.

“You!” Éponine bursts out. “This wonderful night. You’re here with me, when you could be _anywhere_ -”

Cosette’s brow furrows in confusion. “Why would I ever want to be anywhere else but here?”

          “Because I hurt you, Cosette,” Éponine whispers. Cosette opens her mouth, but Éponine goes on, forcing out the shameful truth.

“No, I did. I let my parents hurt you because that way they would be in the mood to fawn over me instead. I let you be a shield, and I convinced myself you deserved it. And now you’re here and I just… _hate_ myself for it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, _mon amour_.”

“Hey, hey,” Cosette says, taking Éponine into her arms. “ _Shhh._  'Ponine, I promise you, you’re forgiven. I’ve thought a lot about our childhood, and I was angry with you at first. But then I grew up, and I realized, you were just a child then, too. It wasn't your fault.”

“Oh, Cosette,” Éponine says, her throat suddenly and uncomfortably choked with tears.

“I understand,” her girlfriend whispers. “You were trying to protect yourself and your sister from them. You took the pain out on me, but you were just trying to survive.”

“It’s okay,” Éponine manages. “If you ever feel angry again…”

“I promise we’ll talk about it. No more hurt for us, alright?” Cosette sighs, resting her cheek against the top of Éponine’s head. “You and Azelma are always welcome here, I know Papa would say the same.”

            Éponine nods, choosing to ignore, for now, all of the complexities of her life, how impossible it seems to leave her parents’ pigsty of an apartment- because maybe, just maybe, things are getting better now. She focuses on the bright spots in the landscape of her life. She has a girlfriend who loves her. She has their friends to rely on, the revolutionaries down at the Musain. She has the lights of Paris, spread before her, and the warmth of being wrapped in Cosette’s arms.

Just then, Cosette moves slightly, turns to look Éponine in the eyes, brushing her unruly hair back behind her ear, the better to see her.

“My papa always says, to love another person is to see the face of God,” she whispers. “There is magic in it.”

And then Cosette kisses her, soft and warm and wonderful, and for the first time in her life, Éponine believes. 

*******

**Author's Note:**

> (Eponine believes in love and magic now, not gonna say either way re: God though. Up to you. But I, your friendly neighborhood atheist, do think Valjean's Christianity is the most beautiful, non-toxic depiction of a religious character ever, and that line I quoted is one of my favorites and something I do believe in a metaphorical sense.)


End file.
